Showing posts with label comic strips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label comic strips. Show all posts

Monday, January 01, 2024

Comic Arts Deaths in 2023 (final)

This will be updated as notices continue to come in. The list is an annual feature of the Comics Research Bibliography. Updates are marked with * - list finalized as of Jan 18, 2024.

 

Deaths in 2023 (with thanks to Bruce Guthrie’s Wikipedia mining, *Jamie Lang’s Cartoon Brew list, *John Freeman’s Down the Tubes list, *Wikipedia’s 2023 in Comics page, *DD Degg’s Daily Cartoonist list, *Didier Pasamonik’s ActuaBD list, and *Animation Magazine’s list) included editorial cartoonist Jim Adcock, Harmony Gold animation distributor Frank Agrama, Swedish animator Per Åhlin, Orang Utan Comics founding member Azim Akberali, Japanese manga artist Ryuzan Aki, *Dutch cartoonist Henk Alleman, Italian cartoonist Carlo Ambrosini, *animator Craig Armstrong, DC Comics librarian Allan Asherman, Belgian comic book artist Jo-El Azara (aka Joseph Loeckx), Spanish cartoonist Toni Batllori, Dave Comics (Brighton England) manager Stephen Bamford, Canadian animator Ted Bastien, Jack Bender, Golden Age comic collector Jon S. Berk, *animator Susan Bielenberg, tv animation syndicator Edward Bleier, Russian animator Natalya Bogomolova, *BC Boyer, *Disney animator David Braden, *animator Ernesto Brieno, Hero Initiative coordinator Kevin Brogan (of Covid), French comics writer Jean-Yves Brouard, Chris Browne, *animation checker and painter Susan Burke, *British comic artist John Burns, British experimental animator Paul Bush, political cartoonist Clay Butler, *French comic writer Thierry Cailleteau, Italian cartoonist Renato Calligaro, *French cartoonist Louis Cance, Doonesbury inker Don Carlton, Brazil’s Paulo Caruso, French BD artist Jean-Claude Cassini, Italian comic book artist Massimo Cavezzali, “Yarns of the Yellowstone” cartoonist Bill Chapman, *storyboard artist John “Rich” Chidlaw, *Duck Soup Produckions co-founder Roger Chouinard, TV’s first Lois Lane Phyllis Coates, *French cartoonist Thierry Courtin, animator and Disneyland designer Rolly Crump, India’s Amul girl’s creator Sylvester daCunha, *animator Sukhdev Dail, *Scottish comic writer Jim Dallas, *Dutch cartoonist Wim de Bie, Bob de Groot, Toonz Animation Studios cofounder Bill Dennis, Elizabeth Woodward’s “Column for Teens” header cartoonist Ellen Derby (nee Keefe), *Belgian editor-in-chief of Journal Titnin Henri Desclez (aka Hapic),*British animator Alan Dewhurst, alternative cartoonist Michael Dougan, Canadian voice actor Ross Douglas, semi-pro panel cartoonist John Dusko, *Swedish comic artist Lennart Elworth, *British animator Ian Emes, Spanish cartoonist Enrich (aka Enric de Manuel González), *animator Don Ernst, comic book artist Steve Erwin, Brian Ewing, New Yorker cover artist Ian Falconer, *French exhibition curator and member of the Quai des Bulles festival Alain Faure, Wally (Trog) Fawkes, Yugoslavian Bosnian gag cartoonist Hasan Fazlic, Charles A. Filius, comic book inker John Floyd, *Australian animation legend Cam Ford, *animation storyboard artist Gerry Fournier, British graphic novel writer Christopher Fowler, Disney animator Randy Fullmer, *Hungary’s Attila Futaki, Argentine comics artist Ernesto García Seijas, Raleigh Comic Book Expo organizer Russ Garwood, American cartoonist Paul Giambarba, 2000AD's Ian Gibson, Joe Giella, MCU visual effects producer Diana Giorgiutti, Earthworld Comics store owner JC Glindmyer, Uruguayan cartoonist Tabaré Gómez Laborde, Pluggers contributor Gregory Grabiak, Dan Green, The Ph.D. Culture Cartoon Book author Gary Grobman, Dærick Gröss Sr., Sam Gross, comic store owner / Marvel employee / Geppi consultant Gary Guzzo, King of the Hill voice actor Johnny Hardwick, *British underground comix publisher Lee Harris, disgraced Australian cartoonist Rolf Harris, John Hart Studio gag writer-colorist-letterer Perri Hart, *animation technical director Vahe Haytaian, comic strip and comic book cartoonist Frank Hill, comic book historian Roger Hill, Egyptian cartoonist Ibrahim Hunaiter, British political cartoonist Tony Husband, Spanish cartoonist Francisco Ibáñez Talavera, Japanese voice actor Shōzō Iizuka, David Illsley, *anime director Satoshi Iwataki, Luke Cage TV writer Nathan Louis Jackson, John Jakes, *animation writer Gregory Joackim, Creators Syndicate comics department manager Pete Kaminski, *Doc Savage comic book cover artist Roger Kastel, *British comics agent Pat Kelleher, Japanese animator Takahiro Kimura, *animation color designer William “Bike” Kinzle, *animator Tony Klück, Edward Koren, Disney and animation historian Jim Korkis, illustrator Sandy Kossin, stop-motion animator Pete Kozachik, artist and graphic designer Frank Kozik, *Tatsunoko Productions anime studio co-founder Ippei Kuri, Japanese voice actor Yasumichi Kushida, *Belgian comic artist Lagas, *Softimage founder Daniel Langlois, *animation storyboard and layout artist Lin Larsen, *Space Ace publisher and comics writer John Lawrence, "postmodern cartoon art expressionist" David “LEBO” Le Batard, gag cartoonist Bill Lee, ‘Mulan’ singer and Chinese voice actor Coco Lee, South Korean cartoonist Lee Woo-young, editorial cartoonist Jay Leeson, *French cartoonist Pierre Le Goff, French cartoonist Paul Leuquet, *animation technical director Nick Levenduski, Emily & Toby cartoonist Virginia Lindemann, original Wednesday Addams actress Lisa Loring, French BD author Malo Louarn, *animator Gerald “Jerry” Loveland, *animation production manager Anne Luiting, *British cartoonist and animator Ric Machin, *animation layout artist and character Istvan Majoros, syndicate comics editor Sharon Malheiro, *animator Walter P. Martishius, collector Harry Matetsky, British comic book company Beyond The Bunker founder and colorist Ivanna Matilla, anime producer Shunpei Maruyama, Leiji Matsumoto, Disney animator Burny Mattinson, Bruce McCall, Ian McGinty, *Disney animation historian Russell Merritt, Amanda Panda and Harvey Pekar artist Jack Millie, comic book artist Lee Moder, Harvard Lampoon cartoonist Bob Moncrieff, Italian comic artist Giuseppe Montanari, NCS administrator Latisha Moore, Pluggers writer Tom Moore, *animator Ken Mundie, *Coco’s Mexican voice actor Ana Ofelia Murguía, Hisaya Nakajo (aka Peco Fujiya and Ryou Fumizuki), Russian animator Vyacheslav Nazaruk, Indian cartoonist Ajit Ninan, Norwegian cartoonist Dina Norlund, Crash Bandicoot videogame voice actor Brendan O'Brien, collector and scholar Richard D. Olson, Italian comic book artist Graziano Origa, Ukrainian writer for TCJ Evheny Osievsk, Dutch cartoonist Richard Pakker, voice actor Jansen Panettiere, *Argentine comic artist Carlos Pedrazzini (aka Salomon Grundig), Scott Pellegrini, Sri Lankan cartoonist Camillus Perera, French cartoonist Jean-Louis Pesch, Australian cartoonist Bruce Petty, Italian comic artist Luigi Piccatto, Canadian political cartoonist Peter “Pic” Pickersgill, *animation writer Duane Earl Poole, underground cartoonist Joshua Quagmire (aka Richard Glen Lester II), *animator Dick Rauh, Paul Ramboux aka “Sidney”, MCU stuntman Taraja Ramsess, animation writer Michael Reaves, *animation voice actor Lance Reddick, *French-Canadian Hubert Reeves, *voice actor Paul Reubens aka Pee-wee Herman, *animation background designer Jeffrey Riche, *cel painter Filonella “Nellie” Rodriguez Bell, *animator Jessie Romero, Portfolio Entertainment’s co-founding partner and CEO Joy Rosen, Mexican artist José Luis Ruiz Pérez, Pittsburgh comic book shop owner Ron Russitano, animator William Ruzicka, *animator Lucinda Sanderson, 'Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto' manga creator Nami Sano, St. Louis Post-Dispatch cartoonist Al Schweitzer, Japanese voice actor Mitsuo Senda, *French comics artist Patrice Serrin, Belgian animator Raoul Servais, Gerry Shamray, Robotman creator Peter Shelley, Kentucky comic store owner Rickey Sheppard, *Brazilian comic book colorist PC Siqueira, comic book writer Steve Skeates, Dutch comic store owner Han Slotema, colorist Jasen Smith, Fox Television Animation storyboard cleanup artist Jeff Scott Smith, Harley Quinn inspiration and voice actor (and Tiny Toon Adventures writer) Arleen Sorkin, American voice actor Peter Spellos, art dealer Allen Spiegel, Italian cartoonist Sergio Staino, *animator Allen Stovall, *Strahle’s Baliwick comic panel cartoonist Jim Strahle, former college editorial cartoonist Robert Stringer, Indian cartoonist Sukumar, African-American animator Leo D. Sullivan, Beano “Bash Street Kids” artist David Sutherland, Canadian animation supporter Hélène Tanguay, Italian artist Saverio Tenuta, Buichi Terasawa, *Italian writer Antonio Tettamanti, Toei President Osamu Tezuka, direct market pioneer Mel Thompson, British comic strip cartoonist Bill Tidy, St. Petersburg Times editorial cartoonist Joe Tonelli, Japanese manga artist Yoshiko Tsuchida, French BD writer Eddy Vaccaro, comics historian and art dealer Jim Vadeboncoeur Jr., *Dutch cartoonist Rupert van der Linden, *Netherlands-based Academy Award-winning animation producer Cilia van Dijk, *French publisher of Marvel Claude Vistel, ‘Lois & Clark’ writer and producer Jeff Vlaming, Mike Voiles of Mike's Amazing World of Comics website, Egyptian cartoonist Ragai Wanis, voice actor Jimmy Weldon, *Dutch cartoonist Harr Wiegman, MECCAcon founder Maia Crown Williams, Doug Wright Awards patron Phyllis Wright Thomas, Studio Ghibli art director Nizo Yamamoto, editorial cartoonist John “Yardley” Yardley-Jones, *Swedish cartoonist Leif Zetterling.


Friday, December 08, 2023

Passengers aboard an American airliner - who are reading comic strips in 1941 UPDATED

Passengers aboard an American airliner. Photo by John Collier, Jr., 1941 Dec. //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8c33775
 
It's a Sunday comic section, and she has a second part on her lap. I can't make out what the strip she's reading is though. Any thoughts?

 
My friend, the Portuguese comics historian Leonardo de Sa, identified it, "I believe that's "Out Our Way." It should be the November 30, 1941 Sunday. Here it is, as published the following day in The Tacoma Times:" https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88085187/1941-12-01/ed-1/seq-14/
 
As you can see from the the page, it's from when it had transitioned into being "The Willets."
 

Monday, January 09, 2023

2/15: Search Barbara Brandon-Croft and Sharon Pendana for WHERE I'M COMING FROM *IN-PERSON*

 

Loyalty is delighted to welcome Barbara Brandon-Croft and Sharon Pendana for an IN-PERSON event celebrating Where I'm Coming From! Join us at Loyalty's Petworth store at 7 PM on Wednesday, February 15th for a discussion, followed by a meet + greet & book signing! 

This event is free to attend but RSVPs are required—please use the form below.  **Proof of vaccination and face masks are required for all attendees.** Please email events@loyaltybookstores.com with any questions.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A seasoned cartoonist of epic proportions, Brandon-Croft carves out space for Black women's perspectives in her nationally syndicated strip

Few Black cartoonists have entered national syndication, and before Barbara Brandon-Croft, none of them were women. From 1989 to 2005, she brought Black women's perspectives to an international audience with her trailblazing comic strip Where I'm Coming From.

From diets to day care to debt to dreaded encounters with everyday racism, no issue is off-limits. This remarkable and unapologetically funny career retrospective holds a mirror up to the ways society has changed and all the ways it hasn't. The magic in Where I'm Coming From is its ability to present an honest image of Black life without sacrificing Black joy, bolstered by unexpected one-liners eliciting much-needed laughter.

As the daughter of the mid-century cartoonist Brumsic Brandon Jr.—the creator of Luther, the second nationally syndicated strip to feature a Black lead—Brandon-Croft learned from the best. With supplementary writing by the author and her peers alongside throwback ephemera, this long-overdue collection situates Brandon-Croft as an inimitable cartoonist, humorist, and social commentator, securing her place in the comics canon and allowing her work to inspire new readers at a time when it is most needed.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Barbara Brandon-Croft was born in Brooklyn and grew up on Long Island. After debuting her comic strip Where I'm Coming From in the Detroit Free Press in 1989, Brandon-Croft became the first Black woman cartoonist to be published nationally by a major syndicate. During its 15 year run, Where I'm Coming Fromappeared in over 65 newspapers across the USA and Canada, as well as Jamaica, South Africa, and Barbados. Her comics are in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress. Brandon-Croft lives in Queens.

ABOUT THE IN CONVERSATION PARTNER

D.C. native Sharon Pendana spent her childhood enchanted by the delights of her city before New York beckoned. As a fashion editor and stylist, she created narratives through style for magazines, books, television, and film. Sharon founded the digital platform, THE TROVE, to celebrate the lives of
fascinating creatives and the things they hold dear. Upon returning to the District to care for family, she rediscovered her hometown, uncovering hidden gems and sharing them in the award-winning Secret Washington D.C. (Jonglez Publishing, 2015; Second Edition, 2018, Third Edition forthcoming).

Please note Loyalty has a zero tolerance policy for harassment or intimidation of any kind during this event. 

Event date: 
Wednesday, February 15, 2023 - 7:00pm
Event address: 
843 Upshur Street NW
Washington, DC 20011

Sunday, November 06, 2022

That darn de Adder and Popeye - letters on comics reveal the Post's biases

More like Pop-eyes

Jonathan Sanford, Daniel B. Johnston

This weekend the Post ran a 2-page full-size Steve Martin / Harry Bliss cartoon in the Book World and a full-page Dabin Han strip in the Travel section - proving that some of the paper's editors get the idea that comics still attract readers.
 

Monday, September 05, 2022

The Persinger Scrapbook: An Esoteric and Ephemeral Cultural Artifact

 by Stu McIntire


ser·en·dip·i·ty
/ˌserənˈdipədē/
noun
the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.
"a fortunate stroke of serendipity"

Fredonia, Kansas is a small town (population <2,500) in the southeastern region of the State. It is surrounded by farmland and is an atypical representation of mid-American life... a living celebration of faith, family and community. It's the type of place where high school sports and the annual Homecoming event are a Big Deal.

A barber shop once existed on N. 6th Street, run by a gentleman named I.A. Persinger. Persinger's establishment, called The Bungalow, was approximately a block over and a block up from my grandparent's house on N. 7th Street, which was on a corner across the street from the high school.

The Bungalow was known to draw customers from at least as far away as Moline, in Elk County, some 40 miles away. That was no small thing during the Depression when resources were scarce. It was almost certainly a communal spot. While customers waited, they could peruse and write in, or sign, a delightfully unique item that Persinger created. It began as a scrapbook in which the barber collected his favorite newspaper comic strip, Wash Tubbs (Roy Crane was the creator of the strip from April 14, 1924 - May 29, 1943).

What set Persinger's Scrapbook apart from "any other" scrapbook were the notations and commentary Persinger added, along with scribblings penned by delighted customers. Persinger's Scrapbook is notable, as has been described by researchers and scholars, as a diary, almanac, and news source. Some of the comments Persinger penned read almost as quaint, humorous and poetic high school yearbook inscriptions.

This is no typical scrapbook. It tips the scales at some 35 pounds and is at least a foot thick, if not more so. It was lovingly collected, collated and bound over a number of years by its owner and willingly shared with the public. It survived (surprisingly intact, considering its handling) decades of constant page-turning and reading not to mention the ravages of decay common to pulp materials.

To our good fortune, the Columbia University Libraries are now the custodians of the Persinger Scrapbook. The link here is to a video presented by Library staff that describes the challenges faced when deciding how best to restore this treasure for future generations. The goal, if it can be achieved, is to digitize as much of the content as possible and to make it available as an eBook. Watch the video through and share in the glee expressed by the presenters. While doing so, give a thanks to Maggie Thompson for her considerable efforts to this happen.

On a personal note, though Persinger predated me and the rest of my family, he was active in Fredonia for the decades of my grandfather's young adulthood and middle age. They were neighbors and possibly friends. It is entirely possible that Persinger was my grandfather's barber. It is possible my grandfather held the Persinger Scrapbook and read through it. (My grandfather was a comic strip fan from his childhood days of Alphonse & Gaston, Bringing Up Father, Foxy Grandpa, and the Yellow Kid). If I may dream... it's entirely possible the Persinger Scrapbook includes one or more of my grandfather's handwritten messages. Time - and careful conservation - will tell. I, for one, eagerly anticipate seeing the page-by-page high-res scans once Columbia University is able to release a digitized version. That is true even if no sign of my grandfather's hand is detected.

My mother lived out her final years in Fredonia, where she grew up and graduated high school. She and my dad relocated there after my dad's retirement. My mom owned and operated an antique shop for a time. She was a local history buff and would have been ecstatic with this discovery. Even if my mother never knew I.A. Persinger on a personal level, there is no doubt she knew who he was, as well as his wife and daughter. I was made aware of this too late to share with my mom and well beyond the time I could query my grandfather. I've been to Fredonia countless times but do not have a personal history there. I see this as one more connection which though tenuous, is no less treasured.
 





 

Tuesday, November 09, 2021

Original art of Ding, Lolly, and... Carl Ed's Victor Veribest? (UPDATED 2x)

by Mike Rhode (updated 11/19/21 with scans)

So a clump (gaggle? flock? murder?) of cartoonists walk into the American Visionary Art Museum's giftshop... 

Cellphone photo with caption




 

Sure, it sounds like a shaggy dog story, but this past weekend I went to the museum with a group of local cartoonists, and someone opened a flat file drawer in the gift shop, and pulled out a 'Ding' Darling panel. 

                                                              Scan, with caption cut off

There were 3 of these, which appear to tell the story of a young potato growing up into a crop. Barbara Dale said she and another friend had already bought 2 others on a previous visit. I bought this one.

Lolly June 21, 1970

 
The next strips I pulled out were 'Lolly' by Pete Hansen, a working woman gag strip that I read in the New York Daily News as a kid. It started in 1955, but these are from the 1970s when I was reading it.

Lolly Sept 3, 1972

Finally, there were 3 strips by Carl Ed of 'Harold Teen' fame. These 'Victor Veribest' strips seem like they might just predate 'Harold Teen' that started in 1919, or more probably, be running parallel to it as an advertising strip for an Armour Hour radio show of which I've found mentions of for 1929 and 1933-1935. I'd be glad to hear from anyone with more knowledge about them.

 

UPDATE: My friend, the crack comics historian Rodrigo Baeza, comes through "I found a sample of the Victor Veribest strip that ran in 1933: https://the-avocado.org/2018/05/10/thriftstorm-6-news-and-views-of-armour-crews/ And a few years ago Rob Stolzer was selling another original (which he believes was done in the late 1920s):https://web.archive.org/web/20180509214243/http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1326468  I was just reading a couple of days ago that Carl Ed was one of Roy Crane's teachers at Chicago's Academy of Fine Arts in 1920."

  
 
So, the strip is actually for the Armour meat company's internal newspaper. And these 3 strips more than double the amount of them that can be found on the web apparently.
 




Sunday, September 20, 2020

I was there! A boast about the Palais du Louvre comics exhibit in 1967

 by Katherine Collins*

September 18, 2020
(reprinted with permission)

Since the famous Louvre exhibit of Comics is cited so often, and was mentioned again in a lengthy press release from Heritage Auctions, I think the time has come for me to puff out my chest and reminisce about having been there, in Paris in 1967. (Yes, it was 1967, not 1968, as was mistakenly stated in HA's post.)

I am a Canadian, not any species of European. I happened to be in Paris in spring of 1967, just wrapping up a one-year "tour by bicycle" of Europe with my good friend Alan Hughes. We had split up for the day, to pursue separate interests. I was strolling along the Rue de Rivoli, in central Paris, not knowing that I was beside one of the walls of the rather enormous Palais du Louvre, and with no knowledge that there was an exhibit therein of (ta-da!) COMICS! Suddenly, I came upon a door into the Palais, with a lot of huge signs all around it, and up the high wall, proclaiming Bande Dessinée et Figuration Narrative — meaning Comic Strips and Graphic Narrative. (Luckily I could speak French a little bit.) The outside display also sported really enormous blow-ups of portions of panels from Hogarth's Tarzan, and Prince Valiant and Terry & The Pirates and lots more. I was utterly dumbstruck. It was like finding a gold mine! It was a gift from the gods! There was nothing in the world that I could have more happily come upon!

I had been digging for comics all over Europe for the previous year, and was fully aware of the European love of classic American comics — and of the many excellent reprints of the same, during the long period of drought of appreciation for those comics in North America. I was 19 years old, and had been very consciously and assiduously collecting everything to do with newspaper comics that I could find ever since I was nine years old, in the mid-50s. As anyone who was trying to do the same at that time can attest, there were very slim pickings. I had been buying every single available book of comics history and scholarship ever published, and I had maybe about five books. Plus my own scrapbooks, and my mother's scrapbooks of Caniff's Terry from the thirties and forties.

I was well aware of the energetic scorn consistently heaped upon comics by anybody who fancied themselves an arbiter of culture. I had been drawing my own comics since I was about 7, and publishing a strip in my University newspaper for the last two years. (And I went on to publish lots of comics for the next 21 years, and more again, more recently.) But I was never given any credit or praise for my work, alongside the others in my university "creative writing" community. If I had been writing puerile poetry and shallow short stories, I might have received some respect. But that did not happen. Nonetheless, I had no other ambition but in comics.

So, finding a comics exhibit, loudly trumpeted in The Louvre of all places, boosted my self-esteem and my belief in the worthiness of my interests. I have remained bolstered and proud ever since. Of course it was another twenty-five years, more or less, before genuine scholarship and quality reprinting of comics began to noticeably wriggle their way out of the Halls of Shame. I had to continue buying European reprints of American comics, in assorted languages, on buying trips to "The Continent." I would ship boxes of books home to myself.

I have never forgotten the joy and encouragement of that Louvre event. I have here beside me the "programme book," which is a 256-page, 8x11 very detailed history of, and love letter to, our favourite art form. Its bright-red covers have always shone proudly from my bookshelves ever since I brought it home in 1967. Maybe it is valuable, but I have never sought to find out. It is my treasure! It was translated into English in the early 70s or so, and of course I have that right beside me as well.

I lost track of the hours I spent inside the exhibit on that day. What sticks in my memory the strongest is the huge — really huge! — enlargements of individual panels of all the great strips from throughout comics history. You name them, there they were. Their size recalibrated my standards of appreciation for comics. Before then, I had seen only, at the biggest, panels of maybe 6x8 inches. These were up to 6 ft. by 8 ft.! Maybe bigger. Ever since then, I have always preferred my comics really big!!

And the lengthy texts posted on the walls gave an intelligent voice to the analysis and appreciation of the comics; this was something I had been lacking for my whole life. Although I have, in the subsequent 53 years, forgotten a lot of the details of the show, I can still easily call back to my mind and emotions the astonished excitement of being there, surrounded by huge comics and the obvious respect they were given. My heart once again beats faster, my mind reels with mounting pleasure, and I am once again distracted from any other reality in the world. I can feel it again any time I want.

In late afternoon, I stumbled back out onto the street, clutching my programme book of inestimable value, thinking of nothing but comics; I was unconscious even of the charms of my favourite city, Paris. And you can tell by this paean to the exhibit and its comics, that I have never lost the thrill and the re-education of the Louvre's history-making creation.

And I was there! I was at an epochal event in the elevation of comics' place in culture. For the rest of my life, it will reverberate in my grateful brain.

*I was the cartoonist of "Neil the Horse," which was part of the black-and-white boom in the 1980s, under my former name, Arn Saba. A big fat anthology (360 pp.) was published in 2017, by Conundrum Press; it was titled "The Collected Neil the Horse." My name change was due to a "sex change", as they formerly were called. It was "announced" in 1993, and resulted in my immediate expulsion from the comics community. I could not get published again until 2017, with the anthology. I am now working on a new graphic novel for Conundrum. It is not a funny animal book this time, but a "real people in the real world" story. Not to be melodramatic, but I may not live to finish it. My health is very dire and uneven. I have long periods of complete disability. Many doctors have failed to diagnose it, over the last five years. But I am plugging along as much as possible. I am happy to say that I am thrilled to be Back In Business as a cartoonist. I owe fulsome thanks for this pleasure to Andy Brown, the Honcho of Conundrum Press, and one of the finest gentlemen I have ever known.

(UPDATED Sept 21 2020):

I try never to miss an opportunity to plug myself. So I should also mention that I have been inducted into both of Canada's "Comics Halls of Fame". (I don't know why Canada has two.) I was named to The Joe Shuster Awards in 2013; and in 2017 was entered into The Giants of the North Canadian Cartooning Hall of Fame. 

One last toot of the horn: the graphic novel I'm working on has the Working Title of "Beautiful". Nice and simple, but could be changed in time. It takes place in Vancouver in 1918, during the so-called Spanish Flu epidemic. I have been planning this book for decades, and its timing, at the outbreak of the Covid-19, is a coincidence. I am not sure whether I think this is a good thing or not. The story is deeply-researched, but is not really "about" the flu epidemic. It is "about" the main characters living through the drama of so much death. Large pages, beautiful scenery, good looks at early Vancouver. It is another "big fat" book, and I hope it will be in colour. It is also a sapphic love story, and what's more involves some Native characters, who have fled up the coast. I have had to constantly pull the reins on myself so that I don't keep writing in all sorts of slapstick and nonsense. (That being my natural tendency.) It is a serious story, but not grim or horrible. There's also some political content, about the left-wing resistance to Canada's WWI conscription, and the simultaneous fierce anti-union stance of the government. One of main characters is an activist.

Wednesday, January 08, 2020

Exhibit Review: Comic Art: 120 Years of Panels and Pages


by Mike Rhode


Comic Art: 120 Years of Panels and Pages. Sara W. Duke and Martha H. Kennedy, Prints and Photographs Division and Georgia M. Higley and Megan Halsband, Serial and Government Publications Division. Washington, DC: Library of Congress. September 12, 2019- September 2020. https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/comic-art/about-this-exhibition/

Since I am friends with all four of the curators of the exhibit, consider this more of an exhibit overview rather than a review. Located in the historic Jefferson Building, the site of many fine exhibitions besides those of comic art, the Swann Gallery’s exhibits are always interesting and this one is no exception. The exhibit showcases highlights of the Library’s collection of comic art, meaning in this exhibit at least comic strips and comic books, including its very latest forays into collecting.

The exhibit is divided rather arbitrarily into five sections – “Early Years: 1890s-1920s,” “Mid-Twentieth Century: 1930s-1960s,” “Late-Twentieth Century and Onward: 1970s-2000s,” “Comic Books and Beyond: 1940s-2000s,” and “Webcomics.” Although the sections are clearly delineated on the website, this is less true for the actual exhibit except for the comic books which are displayed in cases in the middle of the gallery, and the webcomics which are on a screen by the exit door.


 

Taking the three original art sections first, there are some very good original cartoons on display, beginning in Early Years with the copyright drawing for the Yellow Kid, and originals from Winsor McCay, Frank King’s Gasoline Alley, George Herriman’s Krazy Kat, and some tearsheets from the Geppi Collection. The next section has a fine Batman & Robin page, a lovely Burne Hogarth original of Tarzan, and an early Peanuts original, although the Hulk page by Marie Severin has been shown too many times in recent exhibits. The latest section definitely plays into the interests of the two curators. There are two 9-11 pieces, one from Will Eisner and one from Alex Ross that were collected after that tragedy, a Sunday strip from local cartoonist Richard Thompson’s Cul de Sac, a page from the New Yorker's Chris Ware, items from women cartoonists Trina Robbins, Lynn Johnston and Marguerite Dabaie, and posters and prints from the Small Press Expo collection. 



The comic book section is limited by both space and the difficulties in displaying bound printed matter, (as the Post Office classified comics when they were sent through the mail to subscribers). Again reflecting the interests of this sections curators, there are some rare pieces such as the recently-acquired All-Negro Comics no. 1 and DC’s World Best Comics no. 1, along standards such as a Disney issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics, EC’s Weird Fantasy, Lobo (an uninspired Western distinguished only by having an African-American hero), Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor, Mad no. 6, Twisted Sisters no. 1 and an fanzine among others. The Webcomics section just shows strips on a computer screen, made up from some of the electronic comics that the Library has begun collecting digitally including Ryan North’s Dinosaur Comics, Randall Munroe’s XKCD and Kate Beaton’s Hark! A Vagrant. It is nice that the curators are including this new form, but seeing them on a large computer screen in an exhibit gallery does not add anything to the understanding of the strips. 



The exhibit will be switched out around February to preserve the paper items. In a small room next to the exhibit, Sara Duke’s selection of Herblock cartoons from fifty years ago is worth looking at, especially since the topics he drew and she selected are still problems and in the news.


(This review was written for the International Journal of Comic Art 22:1, but this version appears on both the IJOCA and ComicsDC websites on January 8 2020, while the exhibit is still open for viewing.)